Eh, you tried....and with being busy and all, which is a feat in itself I think :)
And yes, GG to everyone...even those nasty wasty scumz :D

"You know, I don't a talk a lot, I know." Franco. "But Joey is concerning me now."

Immediately, Amanda retorted. "Comparing me to fucking VICKY? In your sleep!? Do I look like I chase my wonderful kids with chainsaws and flamethrowers?" She was so upset that she forgot her wonderful kids were around when she dropped the F-bomb.

But then, neither did Natsuko care. "Yes, you know what, fuck you, Joey!" She slammed the table. "It's you, isn't it?"

The man himself, on the other hand, was a little confused. "Uhm, what's going on? Why me? Wait...you two girls... you're those magical girls, aren't you?"

Both in and out of character, Natsuko laughed hysterically. Like she had heard the worst joke ever and is laughing just to spite the person who cracked the joke. "Do I look like a fucking magical girl to you? Oh, but since you love your wife oh so much, she might as well be magical. In fact, I hear she's that laser shooting bitch-" she cleared her thought... or perhaps pretended to, "sorry I meant witch from those stupid Seihou games!"

"Touhou." Amanda corrected her.

"Whatever! Who cares if it's western or eastern, it's all Japanese crap!"

Joey was taken aback by all of that. In his confusion, he flicked his arm off-screen, and thought the result wasn't immediately apparent, the loud crashing noise indicated he broke his cup. "What the hell have I done to this deserve all of that? What about Marisa that makes you say that?"

Natsuko brought her head closer to the screen. "Oh, I dunno... how many times do I have to say I'm a fucking American!? Do I look like I can speak that island's shitty language!?"

"You just correctly translated eastern and western," Amanda giggled with a smile, seemingly as if to soften the mood. A glare from Natsuko made her pretend like she hasn't said anything. Translator's note: Seihou = western direction, Touhou = eastern direction.

"You know what, I'm tired, this job isn't for me. I don't like all this stress, or working for Stuart, I'm done." And just like that, Joey left the meeting before anyone could react.

Joey Rushmore (GamezRanker / MrKrabsWallet) has resigned!
He was Town Vanilla.

Stuart was taken aback by all the happenings as well. "Natsuko! Calm the fuck down, or else I'll fire you!"

And once more, Natsuko broke into hysterical laughter. "You'll fire me, eh? Ahahaha... AHAHAHAHA...!! Hey, Amanda, come over!"

Amanda immediately got off her seat. That's when Stuart realized something was off. The background for Amanda... was similar to Natsuko's? And where were those kids that she dropped the F-bomb around... wait, it couldn't be? "I'm coming over, Nats~." She sweetly sang as she went off-screen...

...and then over to Natsuko's screen. More strangely, she sat on Natsuko's lap, with the latter not exploding on contact at all. "Why don't you fire us both, Stuart fuckface?" The Japanese girl who violently disowned her Japanese identity grinned, as if in victory. "See what's gonna be left of your skeleton crew. Oh, you did all of that just for your budget office. Right. I hope you get to enjoy it alone."

It was only then that Stuart could find the words to fight back with. "Were you the ones all along? You goddamned bitches!"

But Amanda didn't care, and in contrast to Natsuko's wildfire, she beamed with warmth. "Yes, we were the ones."

Nikolay and Franco were silent through the entire proceedings, unable to come up with any comments.

"I..." Natsuko trailed off. "Gotta admit, I picked the Madoka name. It's..." she trailed off again. "The only good thing to have come out of Japan? Puella Magi Madoka Magica, I mean." She looked slightly away, as if she confessed something really embarrassing. "I mean, half of it is just funny German stuff, but you know..."

"And I convinced her to pick a magical girl, too." Amanda made a quiet 'hee' sound. "I also picked Sailor Moon... and we picked all those other names."

"Did you know that Tom Hanks starred as a train conductor before?" Natsuko looked back at Stuart, with a wide smirk. She appreciated his face, a delightful mixture of anger, surprise, confusion, shock, and a lot of other conflicting feelings. "You can figure out the Santa part now."

"It's just..." Nikolay's thick sound interrupted the events. "It's just good trickery. Magnificent. I admire how you outplayed Stuart. And to be honest, I'm tired of his crap as well. I'm also resigning with you two." Nikolay twiddled his thumbs, as if he was thinking of what to do next. "Please continue your Swan Lake performance."

Nikolay Artur (supplementscene) has resigned!
He was Town Vanilla.

Franco stopped petting his fluffy companions for a moment, as if this action was enough to make him lose focus. "I never paid attention to you two, but I think there's something about you... you two love each other, don't you?"

"What!?" Stuart broke out suddenly. "What are you saying?"

"It's not that it bothers me," Franco continued petting one of his cats again, "but I think relationships are to be cherished. No more power dynamics. I'm also joining you two, damn this job and its pointless stress and infighting. Maybe if you, Stuart, had acted less like a dictator and more like caring parent... I wouldn't be so over it all."

Franco Tenorio (Microfish) has resigned!
He was Neutral Vanilla. He wins the game for not resigning until the very end.

"Well, I'm not gonna hide it anymore." Nats looked into Amanda's eyes on stream.

Amanda looked back at the stream, with Stuart fuming and the other two watching intently. "Normally I wouldn't do it here, but..."

"You said it yourself, didn'tcha?" Natsuko's face was mere inches away from her friend's face. "We went that far to give the asshole a lesson he won't soon forget. Let's end it here and now Amanda, on a high note!"

"Hell yes!" Amanda yelled enthusiastically.

Instantly hugging each other, their lips met each other's, as they kissed. Their kiss was so full of warmth, love, and passion. Their love radiated like sunlight, as if to disintegrate Count Orlock - or rather, Stuart. Their kiss lasted only about half a minute, but it felt like an eternity to everyone in the Zoom meeting, so how much more the two lovebirds!

When it was all done, the girls looked back at the screen. "How's that, shithead?" Natsuko's cheeks were hot red, but you weren't sure if that was in sweet revenge or deep love.

"Stop..." Stuart stammered, as if about to break into a sob, but without actually doing so. "Stop shoving your stupid agendas down my throat!!" He shrieked into his microphone so hard that parts of his voice were clipping.

"That's exactly the point!" Natsuko stuck her tongue out. "Played again like the fool you are!" This time, she wasn't laughing hysterically, but genuinely just laughing... laughter that invited everyone else to join her, except Stuart.

When her laughter finally died down, Nats, the mischievous summer child, looked squarely at Stuart, who grasped his head with both of his hands. "See you in Hell, asshole."

"See you in Hell, too." Amanda followed. Her right hand - which still grasped Natsuko - had reached out to something on a nearby table, and that's when the stream ended for both of them. Probably she turned off the router.

Natsuko Hanzou (joppo) has resigned!
She was Mafia Rolecop. She wins due to causing everyone else to resign.

Amanda Tyler (Atlo) has resigned!
She was Mafia Goon. She wins due to causing everyone else to resign.

"Well, same to you, enjoy working at the office. In Hell too." Nikolay's stream ended.

Franco focused back on the stream. "Buy yourself a pet dog and learn to be a decent human being. Better yet, don't. You'd hurt the poor fella." And so, Franco's stream also ended.

...and so, Stuart, was all alone in the Zoom meeting. No one was around to hear him finally break down, wordlessly sobbing and crying.

About a week passed since all of Stuart's core workers left directly because of his brilliant plan to counter Natsuko's plan. Plans that could only be conceived by lunatics.

All of these employees somehow gathered again at the bar that Miriam was working in. It was a sleepy part of the day, with only Miriam herself and the rest of the employees around, including Marisa. But something most unusual was happening. In front of her coworkers, Natsuko assumed the Japanese dogeza pose, profusely kneeling back and forth. Each time her head touched the ground, she said something that would normally instantly turn her into an exploding nuclear warhead.

"Moushi wake gozaimasen deshita!" She said in surprisingly perfect Japanese, for someone who claims to have forgotten, nay, erased most of her knowledge of the language. What she was saying translated to something of a very formal and serious form of "I have no excuses for what I've done, and I'm deeply sorry for it."

"But Natsuko," Miriam moved right next to Natsuko. This time she wore red high heels, a short black skirt that barely concealed her thighs and even underwear, and black bras that only accentuated her body, a far cry from her decent, cross-wearing alter-ego she used to project. Most strikingly was the thin fake tail ending in a purple heart attached to her skirt, and bat wings attached to the back of her bra. "You don't have to do that, I already forgiv-"

"Moushi wake-"

"STOP!" Yelling, Miriam grabbed Nats by the arms and lifted her up. "No more apologizing." She easily got the still slightly Japanese lady to stand up, despite her lack of strength to forcibly lift someone of Natsuko's size. "At least if you're gonna apologize, just say I'm sorry. You know, like normal people."

"H-huh..." Natsuko stopped, as if to ponder what Miriam said. "You're right, why am I doing it like I'm a lunatic..."

"Now that's the Natsuko I know and love." Miriam winked. "Keep being you."

Amanda's mouth was wide open. "How did you that? Even I don't have it in me to do that!"

Going to the bar to fetch more drinks, Miriam spun in place to address Amanda. "You're going to be her wife. You love her, so you gotta have it in you. Besides, you're not gonna be always at this bar with me around."

Karen was the next one to speak. "I work for another company now, and the boss is so much better than that... ugh, I don't wanna think about him." She took a sip from her lemonade. "All I know is that you took the step none of us could. That's the most American thing you could've done, honestly. I forgive you."

"Besides, why ya apologizing anyway?" Sam started. "You brought us here without thinking much about it. You may be a loud, whiny little bitch, you definitely lost my only source of income, and you can't blame me for hating you just a little bit-"

"Stop, please..." Natsuko didn't blow up like she always did, in fact, she was still in a moment of weakness. "I know I fucked up and-"

"And what!?" Sam interrupted. "All I know is that you fucked up gloriously. And you took that asshole Stuart one notch down too."

Natsuko tilted her head, confused. "What's your point? I don't get you."

"Sorry, what I mean is, you followed your gut and saw it through to the very end. I'd like to think that's a virtue, but I don't like to think, you know."

The distressed girl who carried out that daring plan lightly giggled. "T-thanks, I guess."

A hand was extended towards Natsuko, but it was unfamiliar to her. It was feminine, but not of someone she already knew. "I don't believe we've met. I'm that magical witch Marisa." The woman, clad in a black dress with white frills, looked to Joey, who was at her side. "Can you get it for me?"

"Sure, sweetie." Joey put a witch's hat on Marisa's head. She almost looked like that character Natsuko was dissing earlier. "See, Natsuko? I'm a real magical girl." She just giggled. "And one day, my Joey will become a magical boy too. He's such a cutie. But I'm just a bitch, haha."

Natsuko shook her head violently. "No, I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean to call you that! You've done me nothing, we only just met, hi I'm Natsuko and-"

"Shhh, shhh..." Marisa grasped Natsuko's shoulders. "It's okay. If you want, we can be two magical bitches together."

"What!?" Confused, Natsuko raised an eyebrow at Marisa's subtle jab.

This prompted Marisa to just laugh. "See, you're not bad. I don't want you to ever tone down your language. I just know you don't mean any of it, and Joey knows you far better than I do."

"Uhhh, Marisa, sweetie." Joey looked a little confused. "I don't think we should encourage her language like that."

"Nah honey, it's fine." Marisa just smiled. "She's just being herself." Then she looked at the flustered girl. "Nats, you're a little rough around the edges, but you're genuine, you don't hide how you feel. You just need some good company... and I think you already know how to get one. Besides, we can hang out sometime."

Nats couldn't even look Marisa in the eyes, but deep down, she was glad of her. "Thanks. Just... be Joey's magical girl of his dreams, okay?"

Marisa just laughed heartily. "I already am! You be Amanda's magical girl, will you?"

"I will!" She looked at Marisa first, then at Amanda, with a happiness that’s uncharacteristic of Natsuko.

"Also, Captain Natsuko," Manny spoke, "That landing you made could've been rougher. I know you weren't happy with Stuart for a while now, but you made it at just the right time. Just please don't be super mean to us next time, OK?"

"Well, uhh..." Natsuko faltered.

Amanda lightly hit the table twice. "To be fair, guys, we never expected Stuart to do that silly game of his. We just went along with it, and things just kinda happened."

Natsuko nodded. "Uhh, yeah. That. I never planned past our magical girl personas."

Nearly everyone gasped.

"What in blazes then, how did you all that?" Manny just stared at her. "You showed him, you crashed that Cessna straight into his face!" Amanda and Karen laughed at the remark.

"But, but..." Nikolay laughed in utter disbelief. "You guy played that Stuart fool so well."

"Well, it’s that and..." Putting her hand on her chin, Natsuko pondered what to say next. "You guys weren't even trying. I don't blame you, but you all really hated that fucking job."

Franco shrugged. "Well, what can I say, except good riddance?" He drank some of his coffee, which had already cooled down. "I was thinking about being a puppy trainer for a while. But I got trapped in that stupid grinder called work."

"Well, then what are you waiting for?" Johan broke his silence. "I think you'll be far happier with that job. And richer, probably. Those Stuarts like to suck the oxygen out of the room, kinda suffocating as hell."

Finally, Miriam came back, with a large metal tray, holding several bottles of champagne, which was just enough for a group that was two times larger, and cups for about everyone. "It's time to get drunk silly!" The image of the previously devout Miriam saying something like that was quite funny.

"And maybe time to fuck ourselves silly?" Amanda quipped with a giggle.

"Hahaha, uhm, you guys are kind of special to me, and it's a wonderful night, so... how do I say it, I think I have to be wearing something more decent alrea-"

"No time for that, secret demon lady! I was just joking." Amanda wrapped her arm around the Egyptian succubus's neck. "Come join us already. It's gonna be a fun night."

"Oh shit, you're right, I forgot something." Miriam went back into the bar, to fetch her phone and a tripod. She quickly set it up on the bar and returned back. "I doubt any of you want to miss out on this night."

The rest of the night had the ex-workforce pop open the champagne, shout "Cheers!" in unison, fully embrace the new year, and drink themselves silly. In the midst of this all, there were the stars of the show, sitting close to each other in a sofa.

"If I didn't add you on Telegram when we first met, I wouldn't have the courage to do anything I did, Amanda." Natsuko stroked Amanda's hair.

"That's probably for the better. I'm gonna say it over and over and over now. I love you." Amanda looked longingly into Natsuko's eyes.

"And I'll never stop saying it. I love you even more." Nats just took in the face of her dearest friend, now turned eternal love.

In most of the pictures that night, the lovebirds were either hugging or kissing as everyone else just enjoyed their time. And for a moment, that night almost seemed eternal, their love alone so fierce it could freeze time just so they can embrace each other even more, if not forever.

♡ END OF GAME VOTECOUNT ♡

GamezRanker (MrKrabsWallet) (3) - Microfish, Atlo, joppo

Not voting:
- supplementscene
- GamezRanker (MrKrabsWallet)

MAFIA WINS THE GAME
(& Microfish)

Links:
- Mafia Scumchat
- Observer Thread
- Admin Thread

May love burn hot for all eternity! And preferably grill bosses like Stuart too, fuck him.
Until next game! Sayounara!

"Enough with all the shitty Japanese, you SHITHEAD!" Natsuko managed to scold the writer through the screen. Somehow. "If you love such a backwards language so much, why don't you join them!? Hope you like the earthquakes, the volcanoes, the tsunamies, the bosses, the karoushi, the obaasans, the-"

"Natsuko, stop." Amanda shut her up by just kissing her again. That was enough to put out the fire.

GAME OVER.

♡

--- maxleod ---

Do, please, learn to be more active! ;(
It would, literally, have taken just 3 words to cancel your lynch!!

--- CatVenturer ---

I'm afraid, should we play again in the far future, - there will be misunderstandings! :'')
We're just built too differently. But, for what it's worth, I now understand how you felt in that game where you were mafia.

For context, or recap, this is how that game looked from CatV's POV:

> Literally 40 minutes before EoD a wagon forms out of nowhere on a scumbuddy. But not just any scumbuddy - the Godfather - the one role that is immune to investigations.
> The cop is acting very, very suspiciously the next day... did he investigate one of us?!
> He did!! Away goes 2nd teammate...
> Next day - 1 Townie is convinced I am last scum standing - get's lynched instead.
> Because, apparently, the last 2 days/weeks weren't stressful enough... Let's go for another day!!! :D/-<

I, atleast, had joppo to comfort me all throughout my ordeal!! xD

--- yogsloth ---

I already posted this in scumchat, but on the off-chance you will not read it:
Even though it was my duty - I am terribly, terribly sorry for pushing so hard against you!!! ;(

--- Lifthrasil ---

You saved Townies 2x at twilight, you bastard! >;(
Well done ;)

--- Microfish ---

For a long, long time I thought us sparing you (You were a top NK-target of Day_3) turned out to be curse in disguise. Why, oh why, didn't you just take the easy win and put us out of misery? :'')

--- supplementscene ---

O_O
I wish everyone to have the self-confidence of supplementscene.
dude, YOUR ABILITY TO COME OVER AS SCUMMY IS SUPER-NATURAL!!!

I like you... I really do... but THIS is how I envisioned me playing with/against you.

You made all the correct calls... FOR COMPLETELY THE WRONG REASONS!!! AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!! BLAAARRGGGHHH!!!!
If I could've, I would've strangled you through the monitor!!! >:S

*deep breath*
*deep breath*

[Addendum:]
Ah, I see now. Somehow it made perfect sense in my mind.

I feel you buddy... :'')
It's comforting to know that Townies also had their moments of despair. :'')

--- joppo ---

Scummbuddy!! <3
We actually made it through the end!! =)
Were it not for your advice I would have been lynched on Day 2!
We had good teamwork. That said - I hope we never have to do this again! :''D

--- Sage ---

Hope you enjoyed observing the game. =)

--- Other ---

Why was this never considered a real vote!?

The winter sale lasted 2-3 weeks; Why did you put off until the last moment!? :<

This was, and still is, funny as hell! xD


As much as I'd like to say ''Thanks!'' I'm not sure if being told: ''You are really good at lying & deceiving people!'' is something to be aproud of! :''D
And the only reason I managed to stick-out until the end was because of joppo's advice anyway. =]


Can't wait to read Limbo chat and the rest of the flavor. :)

Love the little (& Microfish) at the end there! xD
also - lol @ count orlock.

(Emmm.... am I mistaken or did CatV actually not send a message to scene?!?! I can't find it in the janitor thread! O_O)

I'll need to post all the PMs in the admin thread, since I haven't been very diligent about that.
I love that you love the Count Orlock reference. I'd actually like feedback on the flavor, I really loved writing every part of it.

a "FOS" is a "Finger of suspicion" it's not a vote, just a "very strong indication and/or committment that I find X really really scummy and ma about to vote X"

Distractions IRL, laziness/procrastination, and me trying to be more frugal(considering my already sizable backlog) conspired to lead me in said direction. Ah well, it has led me to also start playing some of my games :)

See Micro's answer up there, it's basically more of a soft-vote, a vote but without the full commitment of one (because it doesn't count as a true, proper vote). You'll often see FoSes flying around when there's a realistic risk of an accidental (or deliberate) lynch.

A quick bit for Joppo/Atlo(and the rest of ya, I guess) re: the following scum chat posts:

Joppo: ABORT! ABORT! GR unvoted

also

Joppo: Crap. I was out for my lunch break.
I know it is not, but it's like GR is doing it on purpose to taunt us. xD

--
--

In the final 24 hours or so I was also becoming a bit exasperated/etc with the game, so I decided to play a bit with the scum team...in part to maybe see if I could lure one of y'all out somehow(to maybe make a slip/etc), or at the very least to have a bit of fun yanking yer chains...hence the rapid vote changes.

I was like "maybe I can get ONE of them to try and quick vote before I change it up"...but alas, it didn't happen.
Ah well, still had fun playing the game regardless :)

(p.s. apologies to Joppo for making ya waste time at work trying to do a quickhammer with Atlo)

I completely reject that. No more misunderstandings. Although since you were mafia this game, I completely forgive you because it's your job to intentionally misconstrue everything that I say and try to distort facts.


I really did message Scene on Night 2 as he stated. My logic for it was posted here:
https://whyquicktopicwhy.proboards.com/post/2052/thread

The TL;DR of it is that I assumed that I was going to be the Night Kill. My basis was that if you accept the fact that I don't bother with outright lies, then you know I wouldn't side with mafia even if I was the neutral vanilla. They wouldn't need to rolecop me if they haven't already done so. I needed to be eliminated no matter what at that point because they'll want someone who will side with them on Day 3+.

Therefore I picked Scene for Night 2 because I thought he was the one person who was most likely to make a post saying, "Guess who the Friendly Neighbor messaged on Night 2?" I hoped that after Scene did that, everyone still in the game would look at each other's reactions to the statement and that mafia would post something to out themselves to the remaining town.

Since nobody figured it out, I picked Trent for Night 1. I had no clue if he was town or mafia but decided to just gamble on him being town because if he was, he'd be an incredible ally to have.


@ Mafia (Alto / Joppo) Specifically - Thank you for taking me out when you did. No seriously. My cat has been doing better for the most part, but my mom was recently diagnosed with DCIS and goes in for surgery on Wednesday. I've actually been a bit of an emotional wreck over here.


Count Orlok references???!?!? Where? Nosferatu is one of my favorite movies. I really do mean to the extent that I can watch the movie any time I want to as I have it on DVD.

Congrats wolves! Well played.

Wish I had gone atlo instead of Lift... not that it would have made much difference.

Big thanks to Pooka for all the great flavor. Makes it a treat to see yourself as a character in someone else's play.

You're welcome! Should I go even harder in that direction next time, or maybe in some non-Mafia game too? It was fun being able to write characters that were already lynched at this point to write a closure for the game. I just hope everyone gets to enjoy it!

I also wrote even more flavor, exclusive to the scumchat. At least once a week, sometimes maybe an extra time on the weekend, but due to ROTATIONAL SHIFTS I couldn't promise to keep them up all the time.


Now that the game is over, please stay by her side. I wish she gets well fast!

Closing posts, you can guess who gets the honor of being compared to Nosferatu himself.

Recovery is expected to be four to five weeks. I already plan to not be available during that time.


Oh! I just reread the post! I must have missed it the first time around,

"Their love radiated like sunlight, as if to disintegrate Count Orlock - or rather, Stuart."